Valance bracket, one of a pair

Valance bracket made of yellow pine with iron nails and pins, painted white.

Label:A pair of wooden valance brackets like those shown here was originally mounted near the top of each window at Elm Hill, a ca. 1800 plantation house built for Peyton Skipwith (son of Sir Peyton Skipwith) in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. The brackets were fastened the house frame with wrought nails before the walls were plastered. An iron pin in the top of each bracket secured a valance board (now missing). Brass cloak pins (CWF accession 2004-117, 1-2) were then screwed into the chair rail near the bottom of each window. The pins were used for tying off the cord of the Venetian blind or curtain that was attached to the valance board supported by the wooden brackets.

Provenance:The brackets were removed from Elm Hill, Mecklenburg County, Virginia, during the 1980s while the house was in the custody of the APVA.